China presents first major breakthrough at COP 22

It has been another busy day at the climate change summit, and the Chinese delegation has been making headlines.

The first big breakthrough at COP22 was presented by the Chinese. The program is tagged the Southern Climate Partnership Incubator. In effect, China is to help countries in the south cope with climate change, and to meet the targets for cutting CO2 emissions set by the Paris Agreement.

“From this year, China will cooperate with developing countries to set up 10 model areas for low carbon, establish 100 carbon reduction projects, provide training to 1,000 people. This is under the special climate change cooperative project called ‘10, 100, 1,000,’” said Xie Zhenhua, Climate Change Affairs, China.

The United Nations has welcomed the initiative.

“China’s flagship programme the south to south cooperation is expanding the capacities of other developing countries to engage in this kind of collaboration,” said David Nabarro, Special Advisor, U.N. Secretary-General.

The need in Africa has never been greater. The U.N. reckons climate-related troubles cost the continent around 200 billion dollars annually.

Droughts are becoming more frequent; the U.N. says just this year El Nino affected the food security of more than 30 million people. Many countries also do not have the resources to meet the Paris Agreement targets.

China’s president Xi Jinping last year pledged to set aside 3 billion dollars to a fund for south-south cooperation on climate change. The latest initiative builds on that co-operation. It will start this year, and by 2025, more than 20 countries are scheduled to benefit.